6/15/10

Who doesn't love a good cheesecake. I know I do. But what really makes me a happy camper is a mighty fine, tasty, thick crust. The filling of the cheesecake is so thick and so rich, there just has to be the equivalent in a crust. It just bothers me to see these lame ass cheesecakes with the thinnest of crusts. Why? I can't eat all that cheesecake without some balance of salty, crispy crust. Can you? I would tire, I would bore.... Oh the humanity! And there are those people that 'leave' cheesecake crust on their plate! They should be fined.The crust, if done right is the best part. I have solved such a problem, I have made a superb duper crust; it's almost double crust, but not quite--perfect. Instead of using graham crackers (which can get boring at times) I used those vanilla cookie wafers from Oreo (called 'golden'), a bit of salt, and some butter. I know this is not big NEW news, but I've never used those cookies before.

Make the apricot topping by mixing all in a glass/ceramic bowl, cover and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight. See notes below.Heat oven to 325 degrees, spray a springform pan heavily with non stick spray.Mix crushed up vanilla cookies with melted butter and salt in a bowl. Then press into cake pan. Take a smooth round glass and firmly press crust into all edges. Bake this for only 10 minutes.Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and vanilla in large bowl with mixer. Add sour cream, then add in eggs, one at time. Pour over crust. Bake for about 30 minutes, gently turn pan around and bake another 30 minutes (unless you have a confection then you really don’t need to turn cake unless you have hot spots in oven). Recipe by Dawn Finicane. You’ll know when it’s done when the center is almost set. Turn off oven, open door and leave it alone. Then cool, then refrigerate for 5 hours or more.When ready to serve top with the apricot topping.

Notes: there will be leftover cheesecake batter, you can use it for something--I didn’t. It might freeze ok though. I highly recommend using a hint of rum in the apricot marinade. It clearly begs for it when I tasted this. Or even an almond liqueur.

I am with you Dawn- love the crust! This cheesecake looks outstanding. I have not made a cheesecake since DB made theirs, I think over a year ago. (where does the freaking time go!) ugh. I think I need to make cheesecake.

I'm totally the person who scrapes the cheesecake part off and just eats the crust. I do this with chocolate ones too. I prefer yummy cookies to gooey cheesiness any time. Great job on this and I'm sure the apricots add a lot to it!

holy heck, i need a slice of that! or... i need to go for a run first :) too much gelato and pasta! i brought back a jar of mandarin preserves from italy and was totally going to use it to make some sort of cheesecake!

I know what you mean about the crust. The cheesecake, itself, is no waif. So, it needs a sturdy, substantial crust just to support it. I hate it when you have those super thin ones that just shatter to pieces the moment you put a fork to it.

That looks really great. It's cheesecake but the apricot really give it that cool feel, you sort of know that it's not going to be too heavy. I will definitely try this, I love trying different flavors on cheesecake. I've tried strawberries, blackberries, mangoes and cherries as well. Of course, the classic cheesecake is still my favorite. lol!

ooh, yum yum. I especially loved when I used crushed up peanut butter pretzels for a cheesecake crust... and sometimes i try to tell myself that i'm virtuous by leaving some crust (ha, cause the filling is awesome for you), but always wind up eating it anyways :)

about vanilla sugar blog

Unique eats, creative recipes, as simple as possible.What drives me to create? Seeing dishes in restaurants, meals created on TV, recipes in cookbooks/online, and I always think to myself why didn’t they add this or why did they leave out that? Love to question, love to research, and love to learn about combining different flavors and textures in recipes.Recipe creations please email: vanillasugarblog@aol.com